FICO vs ULTA Comparison

Founded in 1956, Fair Isaac Corporation is a leading applied analytics company. Fair Isaac is primarily known for its FICO credit scores, which is a widely used industry benchmark to determine the creditworthiness of an individual consumer. The firm's US-centric credit scores business accounts for most of the firm's revenue and profits and consists of business-to-business and business-to-consumer services. In addition to scores, Fair Isaac also sells software primarily to financial institutions for areas such as analytics, decision-making, customer workflows, and fraud.

Ulta Beauty is the largest specialized beauty retailer in the US with more than 1,500 freestanding stores. The firm offers cosmetics (38% of 2025 sales), fragrances (13%), skin care (24%), and hair care products (19%). It also has salon services, including hair, makeup, skin, and brow, that account for 4% of its revenue and drive customer traffic. Outside of the US, Ulta operates premium beauty retailer Space NK (86 stores at year-end 2025 in the UK and Ireland) and has franchised stores in Mexico, and a joint venture in the Middle East. Ulta was founded in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.